complete verse (1 Thessalonians 1:7)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Thessalonians 1:7:

  • Uma: “So, that behavior of yours is/was made-an-example-of by all our one-faith relatives in the lands of Makedonia and Akhaya.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “And now you are also being copied/joined by the ones who trust in Isa in the places Makedoniya and Akaya.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Beause of this, you are the ones that all the other believers in the province of Macedonia and in the province of Greece are imitating.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “And this is the reason you became the ones-whose-example-has-been-being-followed by all the believers in the provinces Macedonia and Akaya.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Therefore in that, you now are the ones who can be copied by all believers there in the province of Macedonia and also in Acaya.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “The believers who live in the land of Macedonia and those who live in the land of Acaya also did as they saw what you did.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Macedonia

The name that is transliterated as “Macedonia” in English is translated in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) with a sign that shows pillars, a hallmark of the architecture used there in the Roman period and also prominently used today at Archaeological Museum of the Republic of North Macedonia (see here ). (Source: Missão Kophós )


“Macedonia” in Libras (source )

Click or tap here to see a short video clip about Macedonia (source: Bible Lands 2012)

More information about Macedonia (Greece) .

formal 2nd person plural pronoun (Japanese)

Click or tap here to see the rest of this insight.

Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.

One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a formal plural suffix to the second person pronoun (“you” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, anata-gata (あなたがた) is used, combining the second person pronoun anata and the plural suffix -gata to create a formal plural pronoun (“you” [plural] in English).

(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

Translation commentary on 1 Thessalonians 1:7

This verse expresses the result of which the reason has just been given. Believers is here a synonym for “Christians,” a rare term in the New Testament (see Acts 11.26). Paul does not mean that the Thessalonian Christians set out to evangelize the rest of Macedonia and areas beyond, but that the Christians in those places were strengthened when they heard what had happened in Thessalonica.

The term example takes up the concept of imitation. The word is in the singular (“example,” not “examples”). It does not refer to the lives of certain outstanding individuals, but to the life of the whole Christian community which has influenced others. One may translate as “So you became the kind of people that all the believers in Macedonia and Greece could imitate,” or “… that all the believers in Macedonia and Greece should be like.” In a more extended form, this sentence may be translated as “So you lived in such a way that all the nonbelievers in Macedonia and Greece could see and could live as you live.”

Achaia is “Greece” in some translations (e.g. Bible en français courant) and was so rendered in earlier editions of the Good News Bible. There had been times when the name Achaia was applied to the whole of Greece, but at the time Paul wrote, Macedonia and Achaia were two Roman provinces whose boundaries corresponded to those of no modern state. Together, they covered almost the whole area of modern Greece and Albania, and also the southern part of Yugoslavia, which is still called Macedonia.

Verses 8-10 form a single sentence in the Greek text. This sentence illustrates two tendencies of Paul’s style. The first is his movement from the general to the specific, which we have already noticed in verses 2-5. There is nothing totally new in verse 9a. This verse simply amplifies three earlier statements: there is nothing … that we need to say (v. 8), we brought the Good News to you (v. 5), and your faith in God (v. 8). Secondly, verses 8b-9a illustrate Paul’s tendency to make a negative statement (there is nothing … that we need to say), and then to repeat the substance of it in positive terms (all those people speak…). Paul has already used the same device twice, in verses 5 and 8.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 Thessalonians 1:7

1:7

As a result, you have become an example: The Thessalonians believers imitated how Paul and the Lord Jesus behaved (1:6a). The result was that they were an example for other believers to follow.

in Macedonia and Achaia: Thessalonica was in the province or region of Macedonia, the northern part of Greece. Be careful that your translation does not cause people to think that Thessalonica was not in Macedonia. If this is a problem, you could say “in the other parts of Macedonia” rather than in Macedonia. Achaia was the southern part of Greece. See the Introduction for more details about the geographical and political situation.

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